A Shopping Trip
by Lialane Graest
Summary: Groceries and necessities are needed at the Patchwork Lab, and Marie drags Stein out of it to go to the store.


"Franken, we have to go shopping!" Marie's voice echoed through the lab.

The aforementioned scientist just sighed. A day spent shopping with Marie met that they would have food for the next few weeks and necessities, but it was also an entire day in which he would be forced to socialize with random individuals whose souls held absolutely nothing of any interest and he would more than likely never meet again. In short, it would be a long, boring day with no chance for any experimentation of note.

The door to his work lab opened and Marie called out for him again. Stein held still, hoping that her eyes wouldn't adjust to the dimness of the lab and she would overlook him, leaving him in peace and just shop on her own. He had so many more interesting experiments to perform that required him to remain inside the lab, not trapped in a grocery store or some "mart" of one type or another.

His hope was misplaced. He felt her hand touch his shoulder and he sighed inwardly. "Yes, Marie? Did you need something?"

She smiled down at him. "We're out of a few things. We need to go shopping, Franken."

"Can it not wait a day?"

She pouted and he sighed again. "Alright, Marie."

The pout on her face turned into a contented smile that on anyone else would have looked smug. Stein made a mental note to do some research on facial muscles and how quickly they could change expressions and compare Marie's reaction times to it.

While he was lost in thought Marie caught his arm at the elbow and tugged him out of the chair and along behind her. The meister was forced to bend nearly double as the shorter death scythe drug him out of the lab and into the bright light of midday.

"Marie, I don't have my lab coat," he said quickly, trying to extricate his arm from her grasp.

She just tightened her grip. "It's nearly 90 degrees out here, Franken. You don't need it! You can let the sunlight actually hit your skin for a change, you know. It's not going to melt off."

"It may not melt off, but I don't want a sunburn, Marie."

"Get some sun then, if you weren't so pale you wouldn't burn so easily!" Marie finally released his arm and Stein looked over his shoulder longingly at the lab, but continued following the woman as she laughed.

Stein walked beside her, silently bemoaning the loss of his precious lab coat and the plethora of surgical paraphernalia the deep pockets contained. He almost didn't notice when Marie took the first wrong turn, and a smirk pulled at his features. He followed her, not bothering to correct her course. She talked and led them for nearly an hour before she stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Franken… where are we?"

Without his lab coat, Stein had no cigarettes, a fact that he was now regretting even more as they stopped moving. He slipped his hands into his pant pockets and was silent for a second as he looked up into the sky. "Somewhere in Death City," he said solemnly.

Marie punched him in the arm. "You know you don't let me go by myself because I get lost too easy! You're supposed to watch where we're going and make sure that I don't get us lost! Now we won't be able to do any shopping! We'll be lucky to find our way back home before dark!" The death scythe was close to wailing, tears forming in the corner of her eye.

"I was lost in thoughts, Marie. I'm sure that we'll find a recognizable landmark soon enough to allow us to continue our planned outing or return home." In reality Stein didn't really care if they continued the plan outing, and would be more than happy to just return home to his lab and his experiments.

Marie sighed and looked around desperately, trying to find anything that looked familiar. "We'll go this way!"

Stein caught her arm before she could start walking that way. "Marie, that leads out of town."

"So you do know where we are!" Triumph shone on her face.

Stein just smirked, "I may know where we are, Marie. Death City is a large place, but you've been going in circles for the last thirty minutes." Stein placed his hands on her shoulders and turned the death scythe around. Just barely visible off in the distance up a small hill was the lab. "We haven't actually made it very far."

The woman blushed, Stein's hands still on her shoulders. "You didn't really want to go shopping, did you?"

"I don't like leaving the lab unless it is necessary, Marie. You know that." A wry smile crossed his face. "Besides, I don't have any cigarettes because someone wouldn't allow me to retrieve my lab coat before I was dragged out."

"You shouldn't be smoking anyway!" Marie said in a huff, stomping back towards the lab.

"We'll never make it to the grocery store or whatever mart you're dragging me to if you keep heading that way."

The woman stopped and turned to glare at the scientist. As quickly as the glare appeared it evaporated and Marie smiled. "You're right, Franken," she said sweetly, "and we do need to hurry, don't we? Would you mind leading the way?"

Something tingled in the back of Stein's head, and he reached up to turn the screw. Something made him want to hesitate, some survival instinct that he was unaware he even possessed.

He should have heeded it. As he turned to lead the way he felt some large and flat slam into his back. The scientist tumbled head over heels for about twenty feet before crashing into a wall with a thud. He lay against the wall, bits of dust and masonry clinging to his clothing as he reached up to turn the screw in his head again.

"And what," he asked, "was that for, Marie?"

The blonde death scythe just laughed, bending nearly double as the scientist picked himself up from the ground, rubbing the back of his neck and then cracking it. Marie stopped laughing after a moment, and held her hand out to the scientist.

"Next time, just tell me you don't want to go shopping, Franken!" Stein walked over to the woman but didn't take her hand. She slipped it around his elbow instead, turning back towards the lab, and threaded her arm the rest of the way around his. "I'll have Azusa or someone go with me tomorrow," she said, leaning her head against his shoulder.

Stein stopped suddenly. Marie jolted to a stop beside him and looked up at him. "No."

"No?" Marie looked quiet confused.

"I'll go with you." Stein turned on his heel, dragging Marie behind him. "If I allow you to go with Azusa you'll just forget everything you were going out after." Stein's face was split in smirk as he braced for yet another impact.

Marie laughed. He glanced sideways at the woman, wondering if she had suddenly taken ill when she smiled up at him. "I'd much rather go shopping with you, anyway, Franken," she said sweetly, laying her head against his shoulder as they walked.

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**A/N: I wanted something sweet and cutesy without being overly fluffy. I hope you enjoyed.**

**I don't own Soul Eater.**


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